Lack of improvement in supplier visibility could spell supply chain disaster

Seventy-two percent of organisations are concerned as supplier intelligence has remained inadequate to crisis-proof supply chains

Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

After COVID-19 showcased widespread problems with supplier information on a global scale, many procurement leaders had initially vowed to invest in supply chain resiliency. However, almost a year later, these leaders are still grappling with issues due to poor supplier information, according to a new study commissioned by supplier intelligence platform Tealbrook.

During the pandemic, 41% of procurement leaders found their supplier data inadequate, and 26% found it mostly or completely inadequate, reflecting a data foundation that's nowhere near strong enough to stand up to current or future supply chain disruptions. 

Even now, more than a year after the pandemic went global, 72% of procurement leaders are very concerned that their supplier intelligence has still not improved to crisis-proof supply chains.

Despite 96% of procurement professionals saying that agility is more important than cost savings for their companies' bottom line, 57% of the procurement leaders reported that they are still reliant on antiquated manual data entry.

Other concerns regarding a lack of data innovation were also cited, including 30% missing out on innovation, 25% falling behind competitors and 22% not being able to determine ROI.

A lack of agility is being compounded by the lack of supporting, adaptable IT, making the cost of adding just a single supplier record $2,431 on average for those who were able to estimate, as a third of procurement leaders also admitted they have no way of knowing how much administrating a supplier record costs.

"COVID-19 was a wake-up call to organizations around the world. Without a solid data foundation in place, the next big disruption could be even more disastrous for supply chains," said Stephany Lapierre, CEO of Tealbook. "Access to up-to-date supplier data will afford companies the agility necessary to weather future disruptions, but also to make the most of supplier innovations in a rapidly evolving landscape."

comments powered by Disqus